A Historical & Contemporary Perspective from the Royal Photographic Society

Continuing on our mission to inspire more people to think about printing photographs, we wanted to explore a more historical view, so spoke with Dr Michael Pritchard, Chief Executive at the Royal Photographic Society.

As well as being Chief Executive of The RPS, Michael is a photographic historian with a particular interest in British photographers, photographic manufacturing and retailing up to the present day. He's also a keen landscape photographer.

The RPS has also been working hard over recent years to highlight the importance of printing images, with Michael doing many online and radio interviews to promote the topic–past, present and future.

The dark room may be long gone for many (and a part of history for some of the purely digital generations), but we look back through how paper and chemistry has played such a key role in the development of photography as we know it–and equally how important it is to continue to print our own images today, at home or in store.

Paper: The Negative & Positive

For most of photography's history paper has been intrinsic to it. Although the first commercial photographic process, the daguerreotype (1839), made use of a silvered-metal plate this was rather a technical dead-end. It was Talbo's photogenic drawing (c1835) and then Calotype processes (1841) which laid the basis for modern photography producing a negative from which multiple positive prints could be made. Paper was used to produce both the negative and positive. Its drawback was that it was the paper fibres which took up the chemicals to produce a slightly soft, but arguably more artistic result than the daguerreotype–a positive only - with its sharply defined subject. The Calotype was used to best effect by Talbot, Hill and Adamson and a small group of photographers, particularly in France.

 

With the introduction of the wet-collodion process by Scott Archer in 1851 glass was used for the negative and the light-sensitive emulsion was coated on to its surface, producing an image unaffected by its support. For positive prints, salted paper was initially used but albumen paper which had been introduced in 1847 quickly won out. The emulsion was coated on to the surface of the paper rather than forming an image within it. Although albumen was overtaken by gelatine papers towards the end of the nineteenth century and there were other printing processes and techniques such as Platinum and Printing Out, with a very few exceptions such as Opalotype and ferrotype/tintype, they all relied on paper. For the negative glass was joined by celluloid.

 

The period from the late 1890s through to the 1930s was perhaps the heyday of photographic printing paper. Gelatine was usually the medium used to take up the silver salts which was coated on the paper and there were many tens of paper weights, tones, and finishes from matt to high gloss being offered for sale by a large number of manufacturers. These were initially hand coated using the apocryphal teapot, but from the later 1880s mechanisation was introduced to provide standardisation, consistency, quality control and the ability to mass-produce papers to meet the demand from a burgeoning amateur and professional market.

 

After the second world war the number of papers reduced as some became uneconomic to produce. The traditional 'fibre-based' papers were increasingly supplemented by resin-coated papers for a lot of commercial photography offering faster drying times and crisper images, particularly for press and industrial photography. The number of paper surfaces and paper weights declined as they, too, become uneconomic to manufacture. By the 1980s, Kodak, Ilford, Agfa and a number of smaller, specialist firms such as Kentmere, Seagull and others, supplied most of the market.

During the nineteenth century up to the 1880s, the largest market was from commercial studios but from the 1880s there was a rapid growth in amateur photographers making their own prints as a hobby and participating in camera club competitions and salons.

 

Digital Decline & Advances

The advent of digital photography further exacerbated the decline in traditional photographic papers from the early 2000s as photographers migrated from film to digital and the smartphone became the camera of choice for youngsters and the snapshotter. Instead of every photograph on a roll of film being printed by the photographer or through a D&P outlet the majority of today's digital images remain on a memory card or shared via social media and remain only in a digital form, rarely printed.

However, for the professional photographer, commercial lab and amateur doing their own printing, digital has brought a renaissance in printing papers. Not traditional light-sensitive photographic paper, but papers suitable for printing through inkjet and other ink-based printers from digital files. Papers range from watercolour-style to more specialist papers such as a Japanese tissue, archival and rag papers, and others with particular characteristics, in a range of weights, sizes, tones, densities and surfaces, much as they did one hundred years ago. In fact, there are probably more papers available to the photographic printer than there ever has been, offering new creative possibilities and opportunities for experimentation.

The Great Paper Chase Made Simple

With such a wealth of papers and economical printers available there is now no excuse to leave images just as digital files. Instead, choose and select your best and have them printed, either commercially or print your own–choosing from the huge range of high quality printers now available.

 

Wilkinson Cameras top 6 Paper Recommendations:

Best for... Testing

This sample pack is only £10 for 20 sheets of Permajet's 6 most popular papers. It's a great way to try out some different papers without committing to a full pack. Better yet, you can claim the price of your first Sample Pack back when you buy any full pack of Permajet Paper!

Best for... Every Day

This is a great quality, yet affordable, gloss paper suited for a vareity of uses. A mirror-like, high gloss finish on a heavyweight base of 280gsm with a slightly warm base tint. A Wilki favourite used across all our stores for in-house printing.

Another high quality, affordable choice. A luxurious pearl finish on a 280gsm base with a warm base tint - designed to emulate the finish and texture of the old Ilford Galerie Smooth Pearl.

Best for... Fine Art

This smooth textured 100% cotton paper adds depth and dimension to your fine art images. It is ideal for both colour and monochrome high contrast images and is ideally suited to landscapes and portraiture. No wonder is is a favourite of Trevor and Faye Yerbury!

  • Epson Cold Press Bright 340 A3+ (https://www.wilkinson.co.uk/epson-cold-press-bright-340-a3-photo-paper-25-sheets/)

A textured, matte, cotton rag paper suited to both colour and monochrome prints. This paper has a velvet-like texture which adds to the fine art finish and feel.

Best for... Black and White

A photo paper truly resembling the look, feel and print quality of a metallic surface with its high silver pigment content. Good for colour too, but try this on your monochrome images and you will be seriously impressed! The tonal highlights and greys are incredible.

A true barium sulphate layer has been meticulousy applied to the traditional fibre base, resulting in intense, rich blacks and creamy whites. Perfect for monochrome and particularly suited to portraiture.

 

 

Dr Michael Pritchard, concluded: "Photography's first 160 years has provided a wonderful historical record. It's equally important that everyone taking pictures today prints at least some to ensure that future generations of historians have a visual record of today's people and society."

Dr Michael Pritchard FRPS

Chief Executive

The Royal Photographic Society

www.rps.org

www.facebook.com/royalphotographicsociety

 

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